Kelowna Daily Courier

Kelowna’s Humphreys, Wilson off to solid starts

By BRAD ZIEMER Mackenzie Tour — PGA TOUR Canada

Cooper Humphreys had a great summer and his fall golf season hasn’t started badly either.

The 16-year-old Kelowna resident opened the GolfBC Championship at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf Club with a solid two-under 69 that has him inside the top 15 of the Mackenzie Tour event.

“I’m pretty happy because I didn’t have the best start,” said Humphreys, who bogeyed his opening hole. “I just managed my misses today. I didn’t make any huge mistakes and just made some good putts coming down the stretch.”

Humphreys, who finished off his round nicely with birdies on three of his final five holes, capped his summer by winning last month’s Canadian Juvenile Boys Championship in Quebec and came within one shot of forcing a playoff for the Junior Boys’ title.

He recently committed to play his collegiate golf at Oregon State University. That phase of his golfing life won’t begin until the fall of 2023 as Humphreys is just starting Grade 11.

“I’ve got a little while to wait,” Humphreys said. “I am excited about that. Both the coaches there are awesome.”

This is the second GolfBC Championship for Humphreys, who played in the 2019 event as a 14-yearold. He shot rounds of 76 and 71 and missed the cut, but had a memorable end to his second round when he fired a six-under 30 on the back nine at Gallagher’s Canyon.

“The first three nines of that tournament weren’t the greatest, but the last nine was good,” he said. “The back nine was a lot of fun that day.”

Although he still has some growing to do, Humphreys feels like he is now much better equipped to play in a professional event than he was two years ago.

“I hit the ball a lot farther and that helps,” he said. “And I can hit it a lot higher, so it helps hitting into firm greens. And I just know more about the game now.”

Another Kelowna resident, 20-year-old Cole Wilson, fired a three-under 68 and is tied for sixth place.

Wilson is a rookie pro who says he is learning lots as he travels the country on the Mackenzie Tour.

“To play a full season on the Mackenzie Tour in my first year as a pro has been great,” he said. “It’s definitely a little lonely travelling alone, but am I meeting a lot of great people along the way and seeing parts of Canada I never thought I’d see.”

Wilson played most of his golf growing up at Okanagan Golf Club and hadn’t played a tournament round at Gallagher’s since the Zone 2 Junior Championships in 2016.

Wilson said he feels no extra pressure playing at home.

“I feel very, very calm. The biggest key when it comes to performance is just attitude and positivity. I have my best friend on the bag and we’re just having a lot of fun. And I have some spectators out here who are friends of the family. It’s been a great time.”

SPORTS

en-ca

2021-09-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://kelownadailycourier.pressreader.com/article/281771337337982

Alberta Newspaper Group